It is such a long time since I've made roasted garlic mash and I'd quite forgotten just how very satisfying it is. In truth, for me the mash here is the star of the dish, and the sausages and leeks there to keep the rest of the family happy.

To do it justice you require a goodly amount of duck fat to slow roast your garlic in but I do sometimes roast it in olive oil too. There I go again, I'm sure the rest of you are more concerned about what to do with the sausages and leeks... The idea here is to get a good sauce to surround the garlic mash, so some onion caramelisation and about a pint of decent chicken stock will do the trick. For a sweet, juicy result, choose young, tender leeks.

Ingredients - serves 4

8 plump Rieerford pork and leek sausages
2 onions, peeled, halved & sliced
4 medium leeks, trimmed, washed
25g butter
500ml chicken stock
4 sprigs thyme

4 large potatoes
3 large cloves garlic
duck fat or olive oil to cover (see below)
40g butter
milk
salt, pepper

Method

Pre heat the oven to 180°C
Fry off the onion in butter over medium heat until it turns golden (don't over-do it or it will be bitter) then add the leeks to the pan in large chunks and continue until they begin to colour. Remove with a slotted spoon to a casserole dish. Cut the sausages into large chunks too (probably into three pieces) and fry off in the pan until browning on the outside then scatter them into the casserole too.

Pour the chicken stock into the frying pan to take up any traces of caramelisation from the bottom of the pan, bringing to the boil as you do, and then add to the casserole with seasoning and thyme sprigs. Pop into the oven without lid and bake for 35-40 minutes until all is cooked and tender.

Find a small pot or ramekin and place the garlic cloves in it with enough duck fat or olive oil to cover - sit in the oven for about 15 minutes until it's tender, lift from the fat (reserving it for other use).

Meanwhile chop potatoes into chunks and boil in salted water, drain and mash through a mouli with the garlic, add butter and milk to make a smooth, delicious mash. Check seasoning of both mash and casserole before serving.